A Netflix documentary about Netflix? It reminds me of my favorite stand up rant by Lewis Black where the satire of a Starbucks Across From A Starbucks is almost too much to handle. At this point we’ve all probably seen a Starbucks located across from a Starbucks, and now, thanks to Pure Cinema Productions, we can all say we’ve seen a Netflix doc about Netflix.

To celebrate the 20 Year Anniversary of Netflix, Pure Cinema Director, Luke McCain, took a deep dive into the past and present of DVD.com – A Netflix Company. A multi-part documentary series showcasing the origins of The Red Envelope, the stories told by Netflix fanatics, and the inner workings of how your favorite movies show up at your door.

As fans of Netflix, movies, TV shows and every other form of storytelling – Pure Cinema was absolutely honored (and very excited) when Netflix DVD reached out to us asking us to produce a series of videos celebrating their story for their 20th Anniversary campaign, #DVD20.

PRE-PRODUCTION

This project was a true collaboration from beginning to end. We worked closely on pre-production and creative direction with long time friend and digital marketing strategist, Shannon Sweester (previous projects with Shannon include Google, Mobilize, ETSY). We were also extremely privileged to work with Netflix DVD Director of Marketing, Vanessa Fiske, and Chapter & Verse Senior Story Writer, Rich Lufrano, to craft heartwarming stories that paid tribute to their groundbreaking platform that changed the way we consume media.

“a tribute that both customers and employees could enjoy.”

“My First Red Envelope is what every marketer dreams of being able to produce,” says Vanessa Fiske, Director Of Marketing at Netflix DVD. “Pure Cinema delivered exactly what I was looking for our 20th anniversary, a detailed and expressive tribute that both customers and employees could enjoy. This campaign has not only engaged customers but helped us acquire new ones too.”

PRODUCTION

Our crew flew just over 1 hour from San Diego up to San Francisco Bay Area to film at the DVD distribution center. Arriving on set in pitch black at 2 AM to capture their staff opening the front doors and quickly getting to work on the daily shipment of DVDs being sorted and packed and shipped out to customers all over the nation. We captured footage of their customer service center and tech operations hub; We interviewed the entire corporate staff as well as Netflix DVD customers – and played a few games of pinball along the way.

“Post production was a bit of a beast.” – Kyle Bronson

POST PRODUCTION

“Of course we are all movie buffs; and as a purveyor of physical media I’ll leap at the chance to talk about DVDs and Blu-rays,” says Pure Cinema Editor, Kyle Bronson. “Post production for this project was a bit of a beast. A total of 20 deliverables {6-part documentary, 12 customer stories and 2 trailers}. Organization was key.”

One thing that made this production stand out was the story-writing collaboration with the agency Chapter & Verse. In close collaboration on breaking the story, along with the edits, we created 22 supplemental motion graphics & animations for the documentary. After all post-production was complete, we landed on 33 minutes of content to tell the story of Netflix and its beginnings as DVD.com. Please enjoy.